If you’re late for your flight or just trying to get out of the airport after a long trip, there may be nothing worse than seeing a busy terminal.
There are, of course, some airports that are busier than others, including five U.S. airports that recently ranked among the 10 busiest in the world.
Earlier this week, the Airports Council International (ACI) released its preliminary rankings for the world’s busiest airports in 2023 based on total passenger traffic.
Globally, the report says figures show nearly 8.5 billion passengers were served in 2023, up more than 27% from 2022. No airport enplaned and deplaned more passengers than Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which retained its No. 1 ranking for another year.
According to ACI, the Atlanta airport had more than 104.7 million passengers in 2023, or roughly 18 million more than Dubai International Airport, which was second.
Dubai edged out the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport by roughly 5 million passengers.
The other U.S. airports landing among the top 10 were:
- No. 6 — Denver International: 77.8 million passengers
- No. 8 — Los Angeles International: 75.1 million passengers
- No. 9 — Chicago O’Hare International: 73.9 million passengers
Rounding out the list were airports in London, Tokyo, Istanbul, and New Delhi.
Denver and Chicago, meanwhile, had actually fallen in the rankings since 2022, when they were ranked third and fourth, respectively.
According to the Chicago Department of Aviation, O’Hare saw an 8.1% increase in passengers between 2022 and 2023. In a March press release, officials said this marked a four-year high as “sustained passenger growth continues” at O’Hare.
Denver International had its busiest year on record in 2023, serving more than 70 million annual passengers for the first time in history. Meanwhile, international travel spiked, and the airport had its first month with over 7 million passengers.
But, for both airports, the growth wasn’t enough to out-rank the busiest.
“The continued recovery of travel demand across other regions of the world has attributed to DEN’s drop in the 2023 worldwide rankings,” Denver International said in a press release.
No U.S. airports ranked among the top 10 for international passengers served. When it came to cargo transported, however, the U.S. dominated the top 10, with airports in Memphis, Tennessee; Anchorage; Louisville, Kentucky; Miami; and Los Angeles landing on the list. Memphis came in second behind Hong Kong.
Eight U.S. airports ranked among those with the most “aircraft movements,” or landings and takeoffs: Atlanta, Chicago (O’Hare), Dallas Fort Worth, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (LAX), Charlotte, and New York (JFK).
You can view the ACI’s preliminary report here.
If you’re hoping for an on-time flight, you may not want to turn to any of the busiest U.S. airports, according to a recent report from Cirium. The aviation analytics company found that, in 2023, Minneapolis-St. Paul International had the most on-time departures.
Of the busiest airports outlined by ACI, Los Angeles International ranked the highest, with nearly 80% of flights departing on time last year. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta ranked as No. 20 on Cirium’s list but was close behind at 78.89% of departures being on-time.